494 



MICHIGAN". 



Remington Arms Company, of Ilion, N. Y., 

 closed a contract with the Mexican Govern- 

 ment for 25,000 Lee magazine rifles, and 15,000 

 carbines of the same manufacture. 



Mission Work. The Rev. J. Milton Greene, who 

 went to Mexico as a missionary in 1881, says : 



The dominant religion is Catholicism, with a strange 

 mijtture of the old Aztec rites. In their processions 

 the natives ornament themselves with feathers, paint 

 their faces, and dance around images. We began 

 missionary work in Mexico twelve years ago, and the 

 results of our labors, considering the time and money 

 expended, have been more gratifying than from any 

 other of our missions in the world. We have estab- 

 lished 56 churches, with a regular atter dance of 10,- 

 000 ; 17 Sunday-schools, attendance, 933 : 12 day- 

 schools, attendance, 465 ; a girls' normal college with 

 20 pupils, and a theological seminary with 9 students. 

 All our work is carried on in Spanish. Of the promi- 

 nent political parties I found the Clericals stopping 

 the wheels of progress, while the Liberals showed a 

 disposition to imitate American push. The Mexicans 

 show great intelligence, and are anxious to learn. 



MICHIGAN. State Government. The following 

 were the State officers during the year: Gov- 

 ernor, Josiah W. Begole, Greenbacker ; Lieu- 

 tenant - Governor, Moreau S. Crosby ; Secre- 

 tary of State, Harry A. Conant; Treasurer, 

 Edward H. Butler ; Auditor, William C. Ste- 

 vens ; Attorney-General, Jacob J. Van Riper ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, Herschel 

 R. Gass ; Adjutant-General, John Robertson ; 

 Secretary of State Board of Agriculture, Rob- 

 ert G. Baird ; Commissioner of the State Land- 

 Office, Minor S. Newell ; Insurance Commis- 

 sioner, Eugene Pringle ; Railroad Commission- 

 er, William P. Innes; Commissioner of Im- 

 migration, H. K Walker; Commissioner of 

 Labor, John W. McGrath ; Swamp-Land Com- 

 missioner, W. D. Fuller ; Commissioner of Min- 

 eral Statistics, Charles E. Wright. Judiciary, 

 Supreme Court: Chief-Justice, Thomas M. Coo- 

 ley ; Associate Justices, James V. Campbell, 

 Thomas R. Sherwood, and John W. Champlin. 



Finances. The Treasurer's report for the fis- 

 cal year ending Sept. 30, 1884, shows : 



Balance on hand at beginning of year $1,074.267 20 



Receipts 8,806,618 42 



Total $4,380,885 62 



Payments 8,238,554 93 



Balance in treasury $1,142,830 69 



The Treasurer purchased during the year six- 

 ty-three of the war bounty loan bonds of $1,000 

 each. These have been canceled, leaving the 

 total indebtedness : 



Past-due part-paid flve-million-loan bonds, $21,- 

 000, adjustable at $578.57 per $1,000 (not bear- 

 ing interest) $12.149 97 



Tfar-bounty-loan bonds, 7 per cent., due in 1890. 284,000 00 



The trust-fund debt, composed of balances 

 upon which the State as trustee pays interest 

 for educational purposes, now is: 



Agricultural-College fund . , $272.827 40 



Normal-School fund 61 2S4 81 



Primary-School fund (7 per cent.) $8,124,810 60 

 Primary-School fund (5 per cent.) 859,375 87 



8,484,186 47 



University fund 495,82272 



Aggregate balance of trust funds $4,818,621 40 



There are now forty banking associations un- 

 der the general laws of the State. Seven were 

 organized during the year ; one discontinued 

 business, and one is in the hands of a receiver. 



The specific taxes charged on railroads in 

 1883 amounted to $655,483.49; received from 

 life-insurance companies, $29,638.56 ; fire-in- 

 surance companies, $82,453.99 ; charged on 

 copper-mining companies, $21,343.87 on 31,- 

 257 tons; iron-mining companies; $26,617.23 

 on 3,151,568 tons ; coal-mining companies, 

 $404.13 on 161, 544 tons; amount distributed 

 from primary-school interest fund to counties 

 for 534,245 children, $763,975.35 ; assessed val- 

 ue of property, $810,000,000, as equalized by 

 the State Board of Equalization in 1881 ; State 

 taxes thereon, apportioned to the counties, 

 Sept. 25, 1883, $1,474.672.26; liquor -tax re- 

 ceipts during 1882, spirituous, $786,972.88; 

 malt, $131,670.09. 



State Lands. The whole number of acres of 

 land held by the State, Sept. 30, 1883, was 

 1,053,111-21 ; number of acres forfeited to the 

 State during the year, 1,695-28; total, 1,054,- 

 806*49 ; number of acres disposed of during 

 the year, 214,185-535; number of acres held 

 by the State, Sept. 80, 1884, 840,620-955. 

 These are classified as follows : 



Agricultural-College lands 125,872 750 



Assetland 200'000 



Asylum land 1,600'000 



Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad land 4,985 085 



Primary-School land 321,107'S80 



Salt-spring land 1,686'710 



State-building land 40-000 



Swamp-land 885,432-150 



University land 196-430 



Total 840,620 955 



The sales during the year amounted to 214,- 

 185-535 acres, for $189,936.08. The receipts 

 of the State Land-Office from sales, interest, 

 etc., were $259,287.04. 



State Institutions. These include the Univer- 

 sity, Agricultural College, Normal School, 

 State Public School at Coldwater, and Indus- 

 trial School for Girls at Adrian (both for the 

 reclamation of homeless and wayward girls), 

 the Insane Asylums at Kalamazoo and Pontiac 

 (both overcrowded), the uncompleted Insane 

 Asylum at Traverse City, the Asylum for In- 

 sane Criminals (nearly completed), the Ionia 

 House of Correction, the State Prison, the 

 Institution for the Education of the Deaf 

 and Dumb, the School for the Blind, and the 

 State Reform School. The Governor recom- 

 mends an amendment of the law governing the 

 House of Correction, and says, " This prison 

 is filled far beyond its capacity with convicts, 

 nearly half of whom are sentenced by justices 

 of the peace from different parts of the State, 

 mostly for drunkenness." 



State Census. A State census was taken in 

 June. In the following table is presented the 

 total population of Michigan in the years 1884 

 and 1880. The table is complete except for 

 the county of Isle Royal, from which no census 

 returns for 1884 were received. The popula- 



